Posts with tag: microsoft | Return to PleasantMorningBuzz.com Homepage
Microsoft Product to Monitor Workers Through Their ComputersMicrosoft has filed a patent for a system which would allow employers to monitor employees' physical states through their computers or laptops. Microsoft is developing Big Brother-style software capable of remotely monitoring a worker's productivity, physical wellbeing and competence. The Times has seen a patent application filed by the company for a computer system that links workers to their computers via wireless sensors that measure their metabolism. The system would allow managers to monitor employees' performance by measuring their heart rate, body temperature, movement, facial expression and blood pressure. Unions said they fear that employees could be dismissed on the basis of a computer's assessment of their physiological state.This is the most obnoxious, appalling invention from Microsoft yet. The privacy implications alone are mind-boggling. And if the economy slides into recession and the unemployment rate keeps rising, future workers will have no choice to submit to such intrusive monitoring if they want a job. Posted on January 16, 2008 Permalink | | | Comments (View) |  Microsoft Clippy has died. According to Engadget and ChipChick the animated paperclip will not be helping (or annoying) Microsoft Office users in any future editions. Office 97 was the last edition of Microsoft Office containing Clippy.
We suspected something was brewing when the iconic figure started donning a 3D skirt in Japan, but a brief interview with Office's group program manager revealed that the clip is indeed dead. While it had been fading for awhile due to an apparent lack of mass fanfare, and was even turned off by default in Office 2003, it seems that Clippy fans will be forced to stick with now-antiquated versions of the Office suite in order to keep their darling on screen. But don't fret too much, as the countdown until someone crafts a freeware app re-instilling a Clippy rendition into Office begins... now.AppScout has interviewed Microsoft Office's Group Program Manager Jensen Harris about Clippy's demise. Harris says there have not been many complaints about the death of Clippy. Have you received any negative feedback about Clippy's death?No complaints? Where's the outrage? Well, maybe ten years is a pretty good lifespan for a virtual paperclip. It also may not be the end. Engadget has warned Clippy will probably return in some future user generated application and there's a good chance someone will find a way to incorporate Clippy into a YouTube video. Posted on February 19, 2007 Permalink | | | Comments (View) | Microsoft Bob Makes Worst Tech Products List  A hideous Microsoft software package called Microsoft Bob has made PC World's list of the 25 worst tech products of all time. Microsoft Bob was rated as the 7th worst tech product.
No list of the worst of the worst would be complete without Windows' idiot cousin, Bob. Designed as a "social" interface for Windows 3.1, Bob featured a living room filled with clickable objects, and a series of cartoon "helpers" like Chaos the Cat and Scuzz the Rat that walked you through a small suite of applications. Fortunately, Bob was soon buried in the avalanche of hype surrounding Windows 95, though some of the cartoons lived on to annoy users of Microsoft Office and Windows XP (Clippy the animated paper clip, anyone?).We are glad that we never had to deal with Microsoft Bob. Trying to turn off Clippy and other animated Office helpers was annoying enough over years. We will admit that with the more recent versions Clippy properly goes into hiding when ordered. Posted on June 28, 2006 Permalink | | | Comments (View) | Google and Microsoft announced that they have teamed up to make entering spreadsheets a web-based application. Google Inc. is going back to the future by reinventing the spreadsheet as a Web-based application, seeking a simpler on-ramp for consumers to input data into databases, the company said on Monday.It's so easy. You just enter all your personal medical, tax and financial information into an Excel spreadsheet and upload it to the Web. What could possibly go wrong? Posted on June 5, 2006 Permalink | | | Comments (View) | Microsoft Sues Google Over Theft of Chinese Scientist Now that's what we call a valuable employee. Microsoft is suing Google for enticing away their top Chinese scientist, Dr. Kai-Fu Lee, to work at their top-secret new R&D center in China. The lab is so secret that Google will not even disclose its location. So who is this mysterious Dr. Lee that Microsoft will do anything to have back? And what in the world is so top-secret that the lab must be in an undisclosed location? "By establishing an R&D center in China," the company said in a statement, "Google is making a strong commitment to attracting and developing Chinese talent, as well as partnering with local universities and institutes."Ok, but what exactly will Dr. Lee be doing in China for Google? Why is he so valuable? What does he know? "As a senior executive, Dr. Lee has direct knowledge of Microsoft's trade secrets concerning search technologies and China business strategies," the company said in a statement. "He has accepted a position focused on the same set of technologies and strategies for a direct competitor in egregious violation of his explicit contractual obligations."It's all very mysterious, but we're sure those wild rumors about Google building a secret robot army are completely untrue. Posted on July 20, 2005 Permalink | | | Comments (View) | |
|
www.pleasantmorningbuzz.com
Copyright © 2005-2010 by Writers Write, Inc. All Rights Reserved.